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I was looking at apartments for Lynchburg VA not that long ago because it is just something that I do from time to time to relax. I could never be a real estate agent or anything, but I do enjoy looking at apartments and houses, especially the floor plans. It was kind of funny though because when I looked this last time, I came across a floor plan that I really liked a lot. My husband and I along with our two daughters had been living in a small rental house. The girls had to share a room, and we all had to share the one bath. Continue reading “Our New Apartment is Bigger Than Our Former House”

Finding the perfect apartment can be difficult. Unlike when you buy a home, you have to be willing to live with the way it looks in large part as it is when you first visit it. You can dress it up with new furnishings, but things such as the way the kitchen looks, the flooring, the light fixtures and other permanent features will remain the same. So the trick when searching for apartments in Henderson is to find something that fits your aesthetic or one that is largely livable as is. This can make the appeal of a newly built or recently renovated apartment complex very appealing. It offers the opportunity to live in something that has a more contemporary feel and one that is largely pleasing aesthetically to many, especially since it tends to complement a wide variety of styles.

Why not shop here in Wildberries.ru? Wildberries.ru is the online store of clothing, footwear and accessories Wildberries – one of the leading online trading in Russia. Catalog contains more than 2000 leading fashion brands from around the world. The range is constantly expanding catalog of adding new products every day.

Today, the site contains more than 100 000 models of women’s, men’s and children’s clothing, footwear, accessories and household goods. All products are in stock, orders are generated immediately after order confirmation.

Convenient service
Service is simple and easy from the first step to buying. Call-center operator confirms the order within a few minutes after registration and answer any questions. If necessary, we will provide technical support.

Fast shipping
Shop Online Wildberries delivers across the country via a private courier service or partner courier services. Couriers operate 365 days a year: on weekdays, weekends and holidays. They regularly open new points of shipment Wildberries, equipped with comfortable fitting rooms.

Free fitting
Fitting possible delivery of the order by courier and paragraphs ex. If the goods have not approached you can just return it or issue a refund later, within 21 days from the date of payment.

Special Offers
They have regular events, offer discounts and congratulations to the holidays. Get discounts for being regular customers.

Recently, e-commerce is caching a considerable amount of popularity and vogue in India. However, not many of us comprehend what e-commerce is precisely? Well, literally, it is the buying and selling of products or services by the businesses or service providers online. This phenomenon has created a prodigious impact on business models worldwide and hence, they are transforming drastically. “Customer is the King” concept is re-instated with the help of this significant engaging tool. It intensifies the price competition in the market and dispenses immense choices to the end-buyer. Technologically, an e-commerce website encompasses a wide range of functionalities and technical processes. Let us try to understand features of a good e-commerce website and what makes it nonpareil.

Prevalently, online shopping websites leverage on the rising internet penetration. The recent boost in online shopping is due to recuperative trust level of the shoppers. These websites have a region-wide presence to overcome numerous logistic problems. A contemplative research about various offered features revealed which one is the forerunner out of them. Jabong, comparatively a recent player, seizes your attention promptly. It is a Pure-Click e-commerce website, unlike a Brick and Click website where the company has an existing physical outlet for shopping. A comprehensive customer-centric approach is their pre-dominant business driver.

The website’s landing page has a contemporary look. It exerts a vibrant image and reinforces distinct features for the shopper’s ease. It augments the competitiveness and the efficiency of the website. Jabong.com is thoughtfully designed and has search optimized pages that rank high in search options. It has an integrated payment method and accepts all major credit cards. Their shipping partners include trusted names like FedEx, First Flight and DTDC.

Jabong.com has also come up with their own courier team which is known as JaVAS which is active in 38 cities. They have their own website (gojavas.com) through which customers can track their orders.

A well positioned and pronounced search box is a powerful feature of this website. It enhances ‘Discoverability’ and enthralls the user to search for a specific product effortlessly. This forms the base of a robust navigation system evolved for a gratifying shopping experience.

Salient links to social media pages like Facebook, Newsletter sign up and latest offers are placed strategically.

The website is responsive and follows an institutive product navigation methodology. The product categories are well organized and administer swift navigation facility. The Verisign logo on the top manifests that all the information and data exchange is secured and encrypted.

Registration is an effortless 2-step process here. Their home page has all the essential links like privacy policy, payment options, terms and conditions, contact details etc. The 30 day return policy is their USP. To note this policy does not apply on Fragrances, Beauty Products, Jewellery, Inner wear and Lingerie. This proclaims the optimum product and service quality exhibited by the website.

Furthermore, it illustrates a tailor-made product navigation bar on the left side of your account page. This enables chronological sorting of products based on price, product or brand.

The web pages endorse products in an enticing way, expressive enough to furnish the features exhaustively. An accurate and high resolution image of the product can be viewed upon selection. Additionally, the save cart functionality provides updated stock information, product summary and shipping estimates that makes the whole shopping experience complacent.

Hence, a new star is born in the e-commerce domain that has already carved its niche by state-of-the art concepts. “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”, Jabong unquestionably has all the ingredients to become a consummate leader.

When it comes to China-based online shopping sites, those selling gadgets should be the biggest in terms of store quantity. Especially in Shenzhen, where the majority of electronic gadget factories are located, you can find online gadget shops doing international business everywhere and Gearbest.com is one of them.

Although Gearbest leaves an England-based office address on its official website for contact needs, its major operation centre as well as warehouse facilities should be positioned in Shenzhen. It is, in nature, a Chinese online international store serving global buyers.

Store credibility
1. It is backed by the powerful e-commerce company based in Shenzhen.
2. The shopping site is protected by Norton and users don’t have to worry about information leaking while using it.
3. It accepts safe payment methods such as Paypal or credit cards.

What Gearbest.com impresses most is the refreshing style of its homepage. Being simple and neat, it looks so comfortable and every product showcased there looks amazingly cool. Just as how it advertizes itself, it is a store where we can buy all kinds of cool gear, including cell phones and accessories, tablet PCs and accessories, car electronics, audio and video, LED lights, lifestyle supplies, men’s clothing and more. A total of over 100 categories are carried by the store and it is a good place to find inspiration on how to lead a cool and fashionable life with lovely gadgets.

Like other popular gadget shops such as Banggood.com or Focalprice.com, Gearbest.com offers a competitive wholesale price for each product plus worldwide free shipping. Some gadgets there are available at as low as under $1.

One great attraction of Gearbest is its customer-friendly warranties and return and exchange policies. If you are not satisfied with the product purchased from the site, you can return it for a refund within 45 days of receiving the package. Also, you can send it back to the store for an exchange within 3 months of receipt. In addition, the store provides free repair and lifetime technical support.

The customer service provided by Gearbest.com is quite impressive, too. Besides 24/7 live chat service, you can reach its service staff through its USA helpline +1(899)-138-0318 for any pre-sales or after-sales issues. I always believe that a Chinese site needs courage and enough human resources to provide phone call service.

As for the quality standards of its customer support, why not give it a try yourself?

Whether you are buying new or used, plain or luxurious, commonplace or rare, trendy or one-of-a-kind – if it exists in the world, it probably is for sale on eBay. Their mission is to be the world’s favorite destination for discovering great value and unique selection.

They give sellers the platform, solutions, and support they need to grow their businesses and thrive. They measure our success by our customers’ success. They empower people and create opportunity through Connected Commerce.™

They focus on empowering their sellers, not competing with them. We are building stronger connections between buyers and sellers with product experiences that are fast, mobile, and secure. And they are transforming the individual selling experience to help you turn the things you no longer need into cash you can use.

They share a common drive to create uncommon opportunities – economic, professional, and personal. And because their business is about people, they have a passion for what they do. They fight for it, every day.

They employ extraordinary people who do meaningful work that has a tangible impact on the lives of individuals all over the world. And they aspire to make extraordinary things possible for each other, for their customers, and for you. They’ve been doing this for 20 years. And they’re just as passionate about it today as when they founded the company in 1995.

Oranum is one of the new psychic service online which offers a vast selection of psychics deals. They may be relatively new in the network in United States, however, they have been existing in the business for numerous years in Poland (its main headquarters and where the organization is founded as well). Also, this online psychic service has several distinctive features that the other psychic networks do not have. The services that they offer include email readings, chat readings, and webcam readings. Webcam readings are very similar to watching a Youtube video, and you do not have to use a microphone or webcam to be able to communicate with the available psychic. The communication in Oranum is only thru writing on the chat box and the reader available will reply on your screen in real time. On the other hand, if you do have a mic and a webcam, you may also talk directly to your psychic as well.

What is a Physic Reading?

A psychic reading is an attempt to perceive, understand and discover information with the use of keen perceptive gifts or natural additions to the basic senses of sound, sight, taste, touch, and instinct. These are claimed to be specified as clairvoyance for vision, clairaudience for hearing, clairsentience for feeling, and claircognizance for factual knowing.

This service is the main assistance that Oranum offers. This is normally linked with paranormal-based session given for a fee in various settings such as at psychic fairs, at home, over the phone, and now even online.

Psychic reading a pseudoscience where a cold reading procedure permits psychics to have superficially explicit information about a person from shared cues and comprehensive statements.

How is Oranum Different from Other Sources?

Oranum claims that they are the first spiritual and psychic community ever to be offering free and live chat to their customers across the globe. This site connects psychics, clairvoyants, healers, astrologers, tarot masters, and more coming from all over the globe with the users who want a perception of their life, career, relationship, and a lot more.

This site varies from many of the other networks such as Psychic Source and Keen. The readers available don’t do their readings thru phone, rather they offer a psychic chat by video, as mentioned above, where you can be able to watch, see and hear the available psychic as he or she performs her service via Oranum and you may talk to them by typing/chat.

Unlike the other various online psychic networks, this service screens their psychic applicants personally. Each psychic undergoes series of exams thru their own techniques. They search for the applicants’ desire to help and their strong abilities, particularly psychic and spiritual, in order for them give the best among the best to the customers.

This psychic video chat is an excellent way of having a psychic reading, more especially if you do not feel comfortable enough to talk to a reader by the use of the phone. Also, it gives more assurance and understanding because you are able to see every move that the psychic performs.

What Kinds of Psychic Services Offered?

Three types of readings are offered: chat, e-mail, and web cam. While it is unfortunate that it does not offer any telephone readings, the reality that they give web cam readings totally make up for it. With web cams, customers of Oranum can actually see what psychic reader performs as they give their reading. This provides a more personal and intimate experience.

Also stated above, webcam readings are just like watching a Youtube video. If your computer has a web cam installed, the psychics may be able to see and communicate with you through that as well. Conversely, if you do not have a webcam, it is no big deal. Generally, the chat box is used to talk to your readers. Also, if you have a microphone, you may use it too while your readers communicate to you via their web cam in real time.

Other than the different psychic services that the site offers, it also extends free horoscope information to its users and visitors. These horoscope information were organized very thoroughly. With its desire of multinational focus, they present their horoscope in a variety of sorts. They are not restricted with only the usual Western Horoscope, but it also comes in Chinese, Aztec, and Mayan astrology. With this, it possibly is one of the most complete and comprehensive horoscope bases available on the web.

How does it Work?

Registering in Oranum is free. All you have to do is provide a username and by the time you have joined with your e-mail address and basic personal information, you should select your psychic. This is where the best part starts—a free chat with a reader can be made every time there is an online psychic. This gives the chance to connect. Furthermore, if that that particular psychic cannot assist and give you to have the responses you are looking for, you can go ahead and move to another reader and you need not to worry about any kind of fees whatsoever.

In the process when you are in the free chat in Oranum and your reader is getting prepared to perform to you your reading, you may be able to add credits to your account and pay for that reading. And then, the only thing you have to do to begin the reading is to select “Start Consultation” on the page of the psychic, and then the private reading will now start.

How much does it Cost?

The users start with the free chat and eventually, the actual reading’s pricing differs from one psychic to another. There are no existing special advantages, free readings, or discounts for the new visitors, but with Oranum’s free chat, you are still going to receiving something of worth. It also uses credits that users may purchase with their credit card to pay for their readings.

Several promotions may be available at one point or another at any given time. There are times when there will be different promotions, for instance, there will be free credits or some free VIP readings. Some promotion will require you to do a task such as be a fan on Facebook or actually take part in the different posts by commenting, liking, or sharing. Another way to earn credits is to write a good Oranum app review on devices like Android and Apple. In other circumstances, there will be chances into winning a free VIP reading with the best readers on the network, or to win a few credits each month.

Were there any Customer Complaints?

Frankly, there aren’t many customer complaints with their experience with Oranum. A small number of the rare complaints are that there are a few psychics who were rude. And a majority of those are just the other people who do not believe in psychics. This few and far between negative feedbacks is a great indication that the site is running smoothly and with good overalls. This may also mean that it may even be one of the best psychic networks online. Needless to say, users should always check the profile, reading history, and their feedback to know more about the psychic, be able to understand him or her more, and know what to expect with the kind of service they may delivered before thinking to move forward with them.

How Good is this Site All in All?

Indeed, there may be countless of various online psychic networks across the globe, but Oranum is an exceptional network—and probably only one of its kind. You can not only use a web cam to watch and communicate with your reader, you also have the opportunity to chat with them for free before having to pay for their services. This is a feature that is very seldom heard of. Not to mention it is the only psychic service that lets its users to chat with their psychics free of charge prior to them agreeing to conduct a private and paid session. If you are ever interested in discerning the perception of their life, gaining spiritual advice, attaining clarity, finding meaning, and a whole lot more, Oranum is definitely one of the best networks in the industry.

Yes, the website relatively easy to use, and useful. It is straightforward and easy to tell which psychic reader is online and available or busy. Most of the psychics perform a great job in providing useful. But then again, there are a few are difficult to ascertain if they are of value based from their expertise and history.

Nevertheless, the idea of having a quick and easy way to connect with high quality, competent, and excellent psychics with the use of a webcam is probably the greatest feature of the site. All in all, Oranum is a great site for online psychic reading service. Visit their website now and be able to experience their extraordinary service.

MDDHosting is another one of the WebHostingTalk forum’s favorites. I gave them a try to see if they could live up to the hype. The experience was great and they’re now on my list of favorites.

Things I Like:

No “unlimited bandwidth” nonsense in their advertising (it doesn’t exist!)

Prorated refunds are an option, but only if you haven’t violated their TOS and if you haven’t asked for a refund on a previous account. I think both of these requirements are 100% fair.

They are loaded with different hosting plans, including five different types: shared, VPS, semi-dedicated, dedicated and reseller hosting.

The standard cPanel is used as your control panel. It’s the easiest platform to use and makes accomplishing tasks simple and straightforward.

Unlimited domains.

They use the Softaculous script installer inside the cPanel. It’s by far the best way to get a CMS on your site.

Brilliant phone support. You’re put right through and the customer service rep is always very good at answering questions.

Really solid mixture of in house support and outsourced support. It seems when you submit a ticket late into the night it’s almost always someone not from the U.S. – though this makes sense because it’s hard to have in-house support when you offer 24/7 services. In my experience, even the late night support issues were handled well.

Average response time on a ticket is under five minutes and you almost always get your questioned answered correctly the first time.

Best chat support in the industry! Chat support is usually awful, but MDDHosting has done a good job here.

My Uptime Test: 99.96%. This is fantastic.

25% OFF

MDDHosting Coupon:

Things I Hate:

Pricing is a little high, but in my opinion you’re definitely getting what you pay for.

Uptime is average. Last year, while monitoring, my uptime was 99.78%. I reported this to them, and my account was credited for a free month of hosting – a good way to turn a negative into a positive. They’ve cleaned up this uptime issue.

As a very young company (just 6 years old), we’ll have to see how they handle large amounts of growth.

Average Server Response Time: 1204 ms. This is a little slower than I’d like.

Tricking Customers

This is so small – and in the overall picture of things it’s not a big deal. But this REALLY pisses me off. On MDDHosting’s homepage, they have a section that says, “The coupon code “25OFF” gives 25% off on a one time basis…. Hurry up! This offer expires in: …”. Then, there’s a countdown timer (counts down from 5 days) right next to the text. You must have to pay the full price after the timer is up, right? Actually the countdown timer is a countdown timer for when the next countdown timer will show up. The coupon offer never goes away. While I know this was done with marketing in mind, it’s pretty lame. Don’t treat your customers like idiots.

Cool Experience

After 90 days of service, they sent me a check-up email. It actually seemed like a personalized email, not something automated. They asked me to give them some things that I didn’t like and any troubles that I’ve run into. I told them that I was feeling pretty good about the company overall, but I added that I noticed the uptime was a little below their 99.9% uptime guarantee (99.78% – not a big deal). They immediately apologized and extended my due date a month with no argument or hassle.

Iris Reading is a globally recognized and trusted provider of speed reading courses. The online modules and live classes are ideal for those who wish to improve their reading speed and comprehension systematically.

Their course system therefore particularly addresses college students, professionals and individuals. Essential online courses start from $75. Live classes start from $199.

Foundation Course

The Foundation course (view course website) aims to generally improve your reading speed and to introduce you to different concepts of speed reading. It also provides information and exercises about the fundamental strategies to strengthen your comprehension and retention skills. The latter will be essential to understand, process and remember information. The Foundation course includes 5-hours of video content, essential materials and bonuses such the Speed Reading for Digital Readers course, a free e-book improve concentration and a report with 30 tips to improve memory skills. This is the best speed reading course for beginners.

Mastery Course

This is an advanced online class introducing more complex techniques such as word group reading or high-speed comprehension strategies. It will also teach techniques to comprehend materials with more technical contents. This course is suitable for those who already have basic fast reading skills and wish to take these skills onto a more advanced level. The Mastery Course consists of ten video lessons and three bonus webinars offered for free. This class will also help students to apply learned methods on tests such as ACT, GRE, MCAT, SAT, GMAT or LSAT.

Advanced Comprehension & Memory Course

This Iris course aims to take your comprehensions skills to the next level. It also focuses on memory techniques to increase vocabulary or remember names easily. The module includes 30 instructional videos and 14 hours of unique content covering topics on how to read fiction and non-fiction material in the most effective way. As a bonus you will get ‘The Substitute Word System’ and three educational guides that expand on the topic. It’s the best class if you want to focus on reading retention.

Which course is the best?
Beginners may start out with the Foundation course, which is the most popular one, and then continue either with the Mastery or Comprehension class. All modules can also be downloaded and used on mobile devices.

Booking a hotel online can be quite tasking, with numerous booking websites that you have to visit and search thoroughly just to be able to spot the best prices. Scrolling through a single website alone can take a big chunk of your time — imagine having to do the task several times. Why give yourself the hassle of going through several booking sites when you can simply view all of the rates in just one place? HotelsCombined curates hotel listings from different websites so you can see and score the lowest rates, all while keeping your preferences in check. Don’t go anywhere; keep reading this review and find out how HotelsCombined brings convenience and ease of finding your most suitable to the table.

Pros

Compare prices from different sites: HotelsCombined acts as one big basin where all rates from various hotel booking websites are pooled for your convenience. Instead of having to visit them separately, this one saves you the time and effort by presenting them all in one page, so you can easily see and compare the prices from each of the websites and easily pick the one most suitable to your budget. You can also check specific terms and conditions with each room offer, like waived cancellation fees, breakfast inclusions, and reserve now, pay later offers.

Tailor-fit filtering options: Just like your trusted search engine, HotelsCombined gives you multiple filtering options so the hotels that match your needs and preferences would come on top. These include star ratings, price, distance from a specific place, property type, guest ratings, hotel features, and themes. You can also sort them from the highest to the lowest in terms of recommendation, stars, distance, price, and guest rating.

Book while on the go: With a downloadable app available for iOS, Android, and Windows mobile devices, you can easily scroll through hotels with HotelsCombined and book a room with a few taps of your finger. You can expect all of the features and functions in their app, so you can search and select the hotels as you normally would in your desktop browser, only in a more portable form, so you can continue to look for the best hotels whenever you want, wherever you are.

Hot and blazing deals: HotelsCombined has a special Hot Deals section that gives you special deals on the hotels based on the location that you have entered. You can save up to 50% off on hotel rates by scrolling through this list, which also contains complete information about the hotels and rooms so you can see if you will not be getting just a cheap version of a regular room. Moreover, you can choose to view the prices with taxes included, so there won’t be any surprises when you proceed to book and pay for the room and be greeted with higher-than-expected amounts.

Cons

Contact with customer support is limited: The only possible downside with HotelsCombined is that the only way to contact their customer support team is by leaving a message in their contact page. Of course, they do have a FAQ page which contains information on pre-booking and booking procedures, but you won’t find anything else in this section. They do refer you to the booking website or the actual hotel for any questions related to booking and services, which is indeed more effective since you will be getting answers straight from the source. Still, giving customers another means to contact their own support team would have been more favorable to the website’s users.

Conclusion

HotelsCombined provides a venue where you can conveniently check and see the hotel rates from different booking websites, helping you easily find the sweetest deal for your dream hotel vacation without having to waste time scouring the web. It is the one-stop-destination to find your perfect accommodation, complete with filtering options and price comparison features, and even a best price guarantee to boot. Though they can do better by providing more efficient means of reaching their support team, for the service that they offer, their performance is nothing short of stellar. Head over to HotelsCombined now and find the hotel that is perfect for you!

Choosing a good web hosting service is one of the most important decisions you will make when starting your blog. Your web host can literally make or break your online success.

If you get a really big traffic spike because you’re YouTube video went viral – can your web hosting plan handle it? Or will your blog simply be ‘unavailable’?

We experience some very large traffic spikes in the beginning of our online presence. At a time when AskDanAndJennifer.com was getting about 10,000 page views per month, one of our article would get featured on a major social media site sending somewhere between 30,000 – 60,000 visitors in one day!

That was the case with our first web hosting service so we decided to try HostGator. Guess what? Amazingly, our $7/month web hosting plan held its own and we had no more downtime from these traffic spikes. Yes!

I’m not saying HostGator is perfect and we never have any downtime…

Listen, all websites go down occasionally – even Amazon… What matters is how your web hosting provider handles the situation when there’s an issue. HostGator’s email support team responds to tickets very quickly – sometimes in a matter of minutes. Plus, if you need to, you can pick up the phone and call them.

HostGator’s customer service simply cannot be beat. Their staff is knowledgeable, responsive, and helpful – that’s a trifecta in my book.
Are there other good web hosting options?

Sure, there are web hosting companies that offer great good, solid service and reliable servers. But there’s a catch (read on, we’ll spill the beans below).

When we started looking for a good web hosting service a few years ago, we asked around and got a general shoulder shrug from most of our friends. Yeah, they all had one host or another that was “OK”, but nobody could tell us”the best one to go with”. So after a LOT of painstaking research, we ended up with a “short list” of possible contenders and the end decided to go with HostGator.

HostGator – Best web host to start out with. Solid, reliable, and very inexpensive: as low as $5/month. And a unique feature that other low-cost web hosts don’t have: you can sign up monthly, no commitments.

HostGator is great because it JUST WORKS, they offer a lot of great features, and (unlike most other quality web hosts) you can just sign up for an inexpensive monthly plan, month by month. We highly recommend HostGator. The fact that their email support replies to most issues in literally minutes certainly doesn’t hurt.

NOTE: Use Coupon Code BLOGSUCCESS when you sign up with HostGator – and your 1st month is just $0.01! That means you can start a blog today for just $0.01. Now you’ve really got no excuse to delay, so take a few minutes and do it before you get busy and forget!
Need Help? Check out our free blog set up service.

Why We Personally Recommend HostGator

Handling 30,000 – 60,000 visitors to our WordPress blog in a single day is not bad for a $5/month hosting account. We were pretty darn impressed. And that’s why we recommend HostGator to our friends and family regularly…

AND, they offer a 45-Day Money-Back Guarantee… so they really make it easy for you to try it out and see how it actually works for you. If you don’t like it, they’ll give you a full refund, no questions asked. We think that’s pretty cool.

In short, if you want a hosting provider that is inexpensive and JUST WORKS, we recommend you go with HostGator. That’s what we did, and that’s where we send our friends.

So go ahead… Try HostGator for yourself. You’ll be glad you did.

Tip: Don’t forget to use Coupon Code BLOGSUCCESS when you sign up with HostGator – and your 1st month is just $0.01! That means you can start a blog today for just $0.01. Now you’ve really got no excuse to delay, so take a few minutes and do it before you get busy and forget!
Need Help? Check out our free blog set up service.

Looking for an easy-to-use online project management software option? check out DeskAway. To my surprise, DeskAway is very simple to understand and implement.

If you are like me, you have a to-do list for your to-do list. Not to mention at least ten sticky notes on your desk at any given time. You are working on multiple projects at the same time, constantly emailing co-workers for updates, and frantically trying to meet a deadline. As much as I like to be organized, usually I’m not.

One possible solution…DeskAway.

Upon learning of DeskAway I thought, “What a nice idea, but I do not have the time to learn something new.” To my surprise, DeskAway is very simple to understand and implement. Within a matter of an hour, I was completely set up, had three projects entered and was ready to go.

Based in India, DeskAway offers an outstanding project management solution with simplicity. DeskAway is web based so there are no downloads on your computer and you can access your work from any computer at any time. Figure 1 shows the sample DeskAway Dashboard.DeskAway allows you to assign and track tasks to your team so that everyone knows what needs to be done and deadlines are not missed. In Figure 2, you can see a sample DeskAway Task List. With one central location, all project files can be stored to prevent duplication and loss of files, as well as no missing emails.

DeskAway even has a permission control feature which allow the Project Manager to assign certain tasks to be viewed by all team members and keep other tasks private. Further, consolidated reports can be generated to ensure progress on the project.

By utilizing the tasks and milestone features, your projects can be handled much more efficiently. The file management feature allows documents to be uploaded and stored directly on DeskAway which is accessible to all team members.

All tasks and updates are posted in real-time in order to keep all team members updated on the progress. As you can see, DeskAway can be an effective tool to manage tasks, document control, communication, and ultimate productivity.

At the time this article was written, DeskAway was offering a free, unlimited subscription for up to three projects. In Figure 3, you can see a sample DeskAway Project List. The free subscription allows you the opportunity to use the product on a few different projects to see if it meets your needs.

You don’t have to be a black chip player to play at Black Chip Poker. Low and mid-stakes poker players and high rollers are all welcome, and if you live in the United States, no problem.

Black Chip Poker was founded in 2008. While the site does not bring anywhere near as much traffic as the two leading poker sites, PokerStars and Full Tilt, since switching in December, 2012 from the Merge Network to the Winning Poker Network, it has grown noticeably in popularity. During peak periods, as many as 5,000 players might be logged on simultaneously.

It is no secret that online casinos usually give out big Welcome Bonuses to their new slot players when they first sign up and make a deposit. However, online poker players have been traditionally largely ignored. If that has been your experience, you have a very pleasant surprise waiting for you at Black Chip Poker. You not only receive a very generous 100% match of your first deposit, up to $1,000; you also get to play in up to four new depositor freerolls. Make sure to use the exclusive bonus code from CardsChat.com – CC2000. Then, your only tough decisions will be what to play when because this is a poker room where the action and excitement never stop. Cash games, freerolls, sit and go and guaranteed tournaments are all taking place continuously 24/7, with enough variety to suit a very wide range of players. In fact, if you want to play multiple games simultaneously, this is the site to do it. The software allows you to play up to 40 tables at a time!

Another way in which Black Chip Poker sets itself apart from the competition is the unique format of some of its tournaments. Most poker tournaments have a predetermined number of payout spots depending on the total number of entrants and continue until everyone but the last person standing is eliminated. Black Chip Poker not only offers this type of tournament, but also time based tournaments (where the tournament stops and payouts are determined after a designated amount of time and hand-based tournaments (which end after a designated number of hands). Other exciting promotions like the Black Chip Poker rake race (a leaderboard competition) and satellites to try to win a seat to a world class event add to the fun.

At Black Chip Poker, you don’t have to be a high roller to feel like one because every time you contribute to the rake in a cash game or buy in to a tournament your earned points accumulate. You can take your benefits either in the form of Black Chip Poker rakeback payouts or special rewards based on your standing in the 6-tiered Elite Benefits Loyalty Program. You can use your rewards to buy into more tournaments or towards purchases in the Black Chip Poker store.

Last but not least, if you are an all round gambler who likes wagering on other games in addition to poker, you will appreciate the fact that Black Chip Poker is not just a poker site. Whenever you feel like taking a break from poker to dabble in other casino games or sports betting, you don’t have to log out and change to another site. You can enjoy convenient one stop online gambling anytime because you can access those other options directly from the Black Chip Poker lobby.

U.S. Players Welcome

There’s no shortage of poker sites available on the Internet. But if you live in the United States, and particularly if you are not a resident of Nevada, Delaware, or New Jersey, currently the only three states where state-run online poker rooms are legal, finding a site that it is not only reputable but where you can play legally can be a major challenge. Simply picking a site you know nothing about and hoping it is okay can be very risky. Fortunately, our expert reviewers at Cardschat.com have already done the preliminary work for you of analyzing many different poker sites and determining which ones are worthy of your play. Black Chip Poker meets our criteria as a legitimate, well-run site. And you know it caters to American players because USD is the only accepted currency and English is the only supported language.

Like any other site, Black Chip Poker is clearly not perfect in every area. Also, if you are just learning the game, even though there are plenty of low stakes tables, it might not be the ideal site for you because Black Chip Poker attracts a lot more skilled regulars than it does so-called “fish.” If you are a low stakes grinder looking for easy pickings, you might be disappointed, too, because you will probably run into a lot more tight aggressive players like yourself. On the other hand, having opponents who are at least as good as yourself is a great way to fine tune your skills and step up your own level of play.

Where this site really excels is in its tremendous variety of guaranteed tournaments. You can log on any hour of the day or night and get in on the action. That is more than can be said not only for many online poker sites, but also for many brick and mortar poker rooms. In summary, if you would like to enjoy the unparalleled convenience of playing online poker, but haven’t done so in a while for lack of a place to play, Black Chip Poker might be a very good bet.

Security and Fair Play

Black Chip Poker takes its responsibility to provide a secure online playing environment very seriously. As stated on the website, all personal information and financial transactions are fully protected. In addition, members of the site’s security team oversee and review activities 24/7 to make certain that all aspects of the operation are being conducted properly. The site has no tolerance for player collusion.

These assertions are backed up by the fact that Black Chip Poker has been successfully operating online since 2008. Still, it would be helpful for the site to provide more specific information about its license and who the outside monitors are.

Software

Black Chip Poker switched from the Merge Network to the Winning Poker Network in December, 2012. The decision to change networks was presumably based in part on the desire to improve the quality of customer service and offer faster withdrawals and in part to be able to offer a wider range of games and tournaments. Based on significantly increased customer traffic, it appears that the decision was the right one. Using the exclusive bonus code on Cardschat.com you will get a $1000 sign-up bonus.

The new software allows players to customize tables and take advantage of a variety of other special features such as reviewing personal hand histories and taking notes on other players. The use of third party software such as Hold ‘em Manager, for example, is also allowed. There are no avatars and the emphasis is on providing a site that is serviceable rather than sophisticated. One nice addition is that players can review cash games and tournament schedules in separate windows simultaneously. Having all of this information visible at the same time can help with the tough decision of what game or combination of games to play at a particular time. Multi-tabling, up to 40 tables at once, is an option for anyone who wants it. The following are some of the other special features of the Black Chip Poker software.

Preferred seat choices

Auto buying
This feature allows bettors to set up their buy-in criteria for ring games in advance so whenever they want to play, they can buy in automatically which saves them the time and trouble of using the buy-in window every time.

Cap Tables
Action for all players is capped at 30 blinds, thereby providing a level playing field for both big stack players and small stack players.

Time Bank
Players can draw on their time bank if they need more time to act on a difficult hand.

Late Registration
Given the combination of your own busy day and this site’s very packed tournament schedule, the late registration option is a most welcome addition.

The software is easy to use, and downloading it onto your computer, which is also quick and easy, should take a couple of minutes at most. Downloading is currently the only means of access, though. Unlike many other varieties of online gambling software, there is no instant play flash version, and the software has not been adapted for mobile device use either.

Another limitation is that the Black Chip Poker software cannot be used on Mac computers. When Black Chip Poker belonged to the Merge Gaming Network, both PC and Mac players could use the site. However, with the switch to the Winning Poker Network, Black Chip Poker Mac compatibility ended.

Welcome Bonus

Poker is a game with a large element of luck as well as skill, and you can’t always count on that luck going your way right out of the starting gate. That is why a Welcome Bonus can be a big help in conserving your bankroll early on if the cards are not cooperating and conversely, too, when you are on a roll, giving you the ammunition to take full advantage of it. Black Chip Poker’s Welcome Bonus is one of the most generous you will find anywhere online.

As soon as you register and make your first deposit, you receive a 100% match bonus up to $1,000, just by using the Black Chip Poker bonus code & the minimum deposit is only $50. The bonus is then released in increments of $1 for every 27.5 reward points earned playing poker. Both cash games and tournaments count. You receive 5.5 award points for each $1 contributed to the rake in cash games or each $1 paid in tournament fees. Players have 60 days from the time of sign up to meet the play requirements. Meanwhile, any time you wish, you can check where you stand (amount released, amount pending, and time left) in the Bonus section of the Rewards tab.

In addition, as a new player, throughout the first month, you receive a free entry in up to four weekly $250 New Depositor Freerolls taking place every Saturday. You don’t even need to enter a Black Chip Poker bonus code more than once to get it. Your best bet is to sign up with the site Sunday through Thursday, so you get to play in all four freerolls. If you sign up Friday or Saturday, your first freeroll is not until the following week.

IMPORTANT: When you set up your account, in order to ensure you receive both the generous Welcome Bonus up to $1,000 and your new depositor freeroll tickets, be sure to enter the 2016 Black Chip Bonus Code, CC2000.

Deposits and Withdrawals

At the beginning of this Black Chip Poker Review, we list various methods of deposit that can be used for funding your account; most methods can also be used for Black Chip Poker withdrawal requests. In addition, there may be other methods you can use, depending on your country. Unfortunately, U.S. players typically find that most online poker rooms open to them only offer them only a few of these options, and Black Chip Poker is no exception. Check with the site directly to help you select the best banking method for you.

The good news is that since the switch to the Winning Poker Network, Black Chip Poker cashouts have become a lot faster. Processing time is now on a par with what you will find at Bovada, which accepts American players and has a reputation for fast cashouts. While a check might still take a couple of weeks before you receive it, Western Union and Moneygram withdrawals are processed in 1-4 days.

When making Black Chip Poker withdrawal requests, keep in mind that there are minimum and maximum amounts for both deposits and withdrawals which vary for the different methods. There are also banking fees. While the site will cover the fees for Western Union and Moneygram deposits over $300, Black Chip Poker withdrawal fees are not covered.

Cash Games

Contrary to what you might think from the name of this site, Black Chip Poker, there are plenty of low stakes games being offered. Also, the upper limit is more what would be considered mid-stakes poker than high stakes poker. Stakes typically range from .01/.01 up to $30/60, sometimes higher in peak hours. Your choice of games includes No Limit, Pot Limit and Fixed Limit Hold ‘Em; Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo; 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo. Hold-em, especially $2/4 no limit, is the most popular, followed by Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo. The stud games rarely run except during peak hours..

Tournaments

Poker tournaments, largely because they offer so much bang for the buck, have become very popular with players at all levels. For a relatively small investment and often no more than a few hours of your time, you have a chance to win a lot of money. If you love the thrill and excitement of tournament play, you are in luck because at Black Chip Poker, there are both sit and go and multi-table guaranteed tournaments for every taste and bankroll round the clock every day of the week. Buy-ins range from as little as .06 to as high as $530, but you might still gain entry into a higher price tournament paying only a small fraction of the regular fee by qualifying via satellite. In fact, for some tournaments, you can even win your way in via a freeroll. In addition, all players have ample opportunities to accumulate points from ongoing cash game and tournament play and use them towards buying in to future tournaments.

The following are some of the many popular tournament formats you will find at Black Chip Poker.

Freerolls on Demand: These freeroll tournaments run continuously 24/7 with no pre-set starting time. Each tournament starts as soon as 270 players have registered. Then as soon as registration closes for one tournament, it starts for the next one. Each time you place in the top 10, you earn points towards the leaderboard. The top 10 on the leaderboard earn more tournament entries.

Sunday Night $50,000 Guaranteed Tournament: This tournament, with a $215 buy-in (but you can also qualify by satellite), includes $10,000 in starting chips and 15 minute blind levels and is one of the most popular of the Black Chip Poker tournaments.

Bounty Tournaments: Part of the cost to play in the tournament is the bounty on your head if you are eliminated. But every time you eliminate another player, you win that person’s bounty. Even if you don’t finish in the money otherwise, if you win multiple bounties, you can still come out ahead.

Time-Based Tournaments: These tournaments have a set start and end time, at which point prizes are paid out to the players with the most chips.

Hand-Based Tournaments: The tournament ends and payouts are made after the preset number of hands has been dealt.

Final Table Experience: Nine players start with $1,000,000 in chips at the final table. The top 3 positions are paid.

Loyalty Program

Player recognition at Black Chip Poker doesn’t end with the Welcome Bonus. You continue to receive award points for all real money play thereafter in both cash games and tournaments.

You also have a choice of receiving a percentage of your play returned to you every week in the form of rakeback which you can use towards tournament buy-ins (see website for details) or participating in the site’s 6-tiered Elite Benefits Program. Starting with Player and going all the way up to Icon, each successive level, besides being more prestigious, brings bigger rewards. Points can be redeemed either for purchases at the online store or for tournament tickets. The website is rather vague about the program otherwise. Presumably, once you sign up, additional information is available about both the play requirements and benefits associated with each level. Also, the website could do a better job clarifying what criteria should be used for deciding whether to take the rakeback or the Elite Benefits and also whether switching from one program to the other at a later date is feasible.

Special Promotions

As if all the regular activity on this site isn’t enough, there are always special promotions going on to add to the excitement. Some of them are only seasonal or short-term, so you need to keep checking the website for updates. Here is a sample of some of the Exciting Extras being offered right now.

Reload Bonuses: Try to time your deposits for the beginning and middle of each month because those are the two times when your redeposit will be matched 100% up to $200. The reload bonus money is released in $5 increments for each 120 award points you subsequently earn. You have 30 days to meet the play requirements in full.

“The Beast”: a Twice Monthly Progressive Rake Race: All players are automatically entered in this weekly leaderboard competition based on individual contributions to the rake. Every table counts, with rake race winners receiving cash prizes or tournament tickets.

Sit n Crush Progressive Rake Race: This leaderboard competition is comparable to The Beast but based on sit and go play. Winners receive cash prizes or tickets to satellites for live poker events.

High Five October Tournament SeriesThis 5-day tournament running in October includes 25 events and a guaranteed $420,000 in prize pools, with buy-ins ranging from $1+0.10 to $500+0.50. The highlight will be the $200 + $15 $150,000 guaranteed Main Event.

Customer Support

Black Chip Poker offers all players 24/7 Customer Support to address any questions or concerns. The service can be accessed via live chat, phone, or email.

Every winter deutsche bahn (German railway company) surely will increase its price again for 5%. Seriously, I’m getting sick of Deutsche Bahn and its services. It is really surreal to think that I can go from Aachen to Amsterdam under 50€ but to go from Aachen to Frankfurt I have to pay at least 70€. They set too much higher price for railway who always late! Oh they probably will be late more often as their railway will be ‘frozen’ due to the cold weather. So for you who exchanges students or expatriates or even ‘Deutsche’ who prefer to spend their money with something useful I would recommended you Flixbus.

Flixbus was founded by a private long-distanced bus enterprise under the name “GoBus”, the renaming took place in early 2013. Their route network includes not only big cities such as Cologne, Frankfurt and berlin in germany but also Zürich and Prague. They also sell their ticket starting from 1€. I Got my ticket from Cologne-Frankfurt and outward for only 14€, which is a really “saver fares” compare to Deutsche Bahn. But you have to buy your ticket in advance because you have to print your ticket and it also cheaper to buy in advance (sometimes they are sold!).

So here my point for flixbus according comfort, flexibility, hygiene and price.

comfort: Their seat are really comfortable. You have enough space for your feet and they have also foot rest under the seat. You can adjust your seat so you can relax or lean back. There is also a small flap so you can put your things on it. They also have reading lamp and air conditioner above every seat! So basically I’ll give it 4 out of 5

Flexibility: sadly they only pick you up in certain stop, but don’t worry their stops are easy to find and to reach. They go almost everyday but to check it to make sure (and book it in advance!). For Flexibility I’ll give them 2 out of 5 (just because they have to expand their route-network and their time and they didn’t give you toilette-pause or smoking or just chilling-pause)

Hygiene: to be honest I was expecting the bus would be dirty, smelly and uncomfortable but I was totally wrong as I said the seat was comfortable and it was clean and also not smelly. Although I wasn’t going to the toilette but I expect it was also “okay” toilette because I didn’t see any guest who turned their head after the saw the toilet or probably because they don’t have any other choice? Overall I will give it 2.5 out of 5

Price: compare to deutsche bahn, you can’t complain about their prices and you’ll never get any cheaper than this! So of course a 4.5 out of 5.

Here are the result: If you want to try another alternate than deutsche bahn you could absolutely try this one because it’s cheap comfortable although it takes time to get to your destination hut doesn’t it just the same if deutsche bahn 25 minutes or 50 minutes late from their schedule?

In recent years, mostly in Europe tour operators would book entire hotels to fill up with guests that would travel on the tour operator’s planes. Hoteliers loved this model, because while price was low, occupation was guaranteed and often paid upfront.

However, as service degraded or competition increased, Tour Operators would book other hotels. Hoteliers that relied solely on a few Tour Operators would struggle establish new channels, or fail and go out of business. But what does all of this have to do with Booking.com?

Booking.com’s success for independent hotels

Booking.com has taken Europe by storm, and is now making inroads into the US. Studies show that over 50% of all hotel nights booked in Europe are booked through booking.com.

This level of market consolidation has been a bonanza for independent hotels. Without any brand recognition, booking.com has become the ideal digital marketplace to promote and sell their rooms to guests from all over the World.

Booking.com’s has been able to create a formidable marketplace with a large amount of inventory (many consumers consider that “all hotels are on booking.com, at least all that matter”), it does not take payments upfront, and booking.com’s increased focus on user reviews provides a one-stop-shop for consumers.

Booking.com now claims to be the number one online hotel reservation service in the World. From our experience with hoteliers, booking.com certainly has significant distribution power, and there is no doubt that it represents an increasingly significant portion of the income of numerous hotels throughout the World.

Booking.com’s obsession with price

Booking.com is obsessed with providing the best possible prices to consumers. J.D. Power and associates reported that Booking.com has the highest customer satisfaction rate of independent travel websites, mainly due to competitiveness of pricing.

This obsession with price causes the relationship that hoteliers have with booking.com to frequently be one of love-hate. They love the reservations that Booking.com brings in, but they hate it when they have to sell for low prices, preventing them from differentiating their hotel on any other factor.

To add insult to injury, Booking.com’s flat commission model has been replaced by one of bidding for position on the first page of a destination. It is not infrequent that hotels pay over 20% in commission to be on the first page of the recommended properties in their city.

These issues and Booking.com’s market power, make its relationship with hotels uneven. Hotels might be receiving significant revenue from the reservations that are made through the site, but if they depend on Booking.com for their reservations, they have little bargaining power.

The playing field is tilted

Booking.com recently started taking one-sided decisions on how their system operates and forcing hotels to adapt. For example, booking.com recently reserved the right to automatically resell a room that one of its customers has canceled, apparently to protect their commission. Booking.com also changed their information policy and now blocks access to the customer’s information, e.g. by eliminating customers’ e-mail addresses apparently to prevent direct contact between hotels and customers.

Even appreciating all the revenue they get from Booking.com, most hotels’ situation may be so precarious that if Booking.com were to raise its commission margins there is little that they can do about it.

In a recent debate at Phocuswright Conference, hoteliers divided channels between good channels (the ones that extend reach or create new markets) and bad channels (the ones that cannibalize their natural markets, e.g. by bidding on their keywords, e.g. Hotel XYZ).

With booking.com taking all these steps, how can hoteliers really trust that booking.com has their best interest in mind and is not their worst best friend?

Balance your Booking.com presence through hotel digital marketing

Hotels need understand how to use Booking.com for their benefit, but not be overly dependent on it. They need to understand how to keep the reservation service at arm’s length by having a sound hotel digital marketing strategy.

It’s important to have a multi-channel digital marketing strategy that gives hotels digital presence. Achieving such online presence would include, among other factors:

Great looking website– Many studies show that a large majority of consumers would prefer to book directly with the property given the same terms and conditions. To instill consumers with the trust to book, it’s important to have a stunning website that conveys to potential clients a positive feel for the hotel,;

Multi-channel reservations – it is vital to diversify channels, and ensure that your hotel is present in at least 5-10 mass channels, including Expedia/Hotels.com, lastminute.com, hotels.de and the ones that may be most relevant to your segment (e.g. if you have a boutique hotel, you should try to get listed on splendia.com, tablethotels.com, mrandmrssmith.com);

Optimize for mobile devices – Mobile is the fastest growing channel in hotel bookings, especially last-minute reservations. With the increase of reservations by mobile devices, your hotel needs to have a website and booking engine optimized for mobile devices;

Collecting guest information – Collecting your guests’ data so as to target the right profiles with your promotions and reward the best guests with campaigns that encourage loyalty;

Presence on social platforms – a beautiful page on the major social networks can go a long way to increase an hotel’s brand exposure;

Conclusion

No hotelier wishes to have their hotel completely booked this year if they are to find themselves empty and helpless next year, because their reservations only came from one channel and they didn’t have any other channels established.

Hotels need to have a multi-channel digital marketing strategy, so as to avoid any kind of dependence on any one service for their online revenue. They need to have a digital presence that safeguards them from other companies having power over them. One that guarantees that they are sought out by potential clients no matter on what search engine these are conducting the search.

McAfee AntiVirus is one of the few “basic” antivirus software that includes a built-in firewall. Since this is the case, you’d think McAfee would fare much better than the competition in our tests. It didn’t.

We first infected our test PCs with our standard assortment of malware samples that included spyware, viruses, trojans, and other forms of malware. We then turned McAfee AntiVirus on and ran a scan to see how many samples it could clean up or remove.

McAfee AntiVirus left behind several active malware samples. In one batch alone with 40 of the newest viruses, there were at least three very obvious malware infections constantly popping up on our test PCs, and another four actively running in the background.

As for real-time antivirus protection, which is where some products excel, even if they do poorly at removel, McAfee didn’t do much better. With McAfee fully updated and running on each of our test PCs, we attempted to download and install different batches of known viruses, trojans, and other malware.

McAfee was very slow at scanning them compared with their competitors, which is a concern with us. In the time it takes McAfee to determine if a piece of software is safe or not, some malware could get through and do a lot of damage in the meantime. Regardless, McAfee was able to correctly identify most threats, but over 10% of our malware samples remained alive and active.

The only area where McAfee got most things right was with their antiphishing where they scored 90%. A good score for an otherwise poor virus and malware protection performance.

Firewall Protection: 46%

A firewall is your first line of defense against many types of threats trying to infiltrate your PC. Think of it like a moat around your castle: the only way in and out is through the drawbridge and a guard is checking everyone for hidden threats.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus scored a very poor 46% during our firewall testing. On the plus side, McAfee was able to obscure all but one of the vulnerable ports. But on the other hand, the firewall failed to block even basic downloading and flagging tests.

Resource Usage: 98%

McAfee’s overall system impact was very light. PC boot time was very fast compared to other antivirus software. And, there was virtually no system impact when running a full scan. This is a significant change from McAfee’s performance in recent years. They deserve big praise for this.

The downside, and the reason McAfee doesn’t get an even better score in this department, is because scans take so. long. to. complete. This enables McAfee AntiVirus Plus to run with such a low drain on your PC by scanning files very slowly.

It’s a bit of give and take, but on balance we have to credit to McAfee in this area.

User Interface: 33%
The user interface for McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2016 is the same, dull, unintuitive design they’ve been using for years. Literally.

When most antivirus companies make massive overhauls (or at least minor updates), McAfee still relies on a design that looks and feels like someone made a sketch on paper, then built their interface to look just like that.

Not only does it look amateurish, but more importantly, it’s painfully difficult to use compared to its competitors. Most of the relevant sections are virtually hidden within small links or small scrolling boxes, sometimes boxes within boxes. At its worst, a smattering of links make it all but impossible to find the right settings you need.

While we may sound overly harsh for something that may seem insignificant (the design), it’s the part of the antivirus software you’re using. And if it represents poor craftsmanship, then that says a lot about the company behind it.

Technical Support: 71%

The technical support for McAfee is usable for the majority of questions you may have. They provide very good video tutorials, FAQ pages, chat, email, and forums for the most common issues.

If you need further help, McAfee first requires you to install their “Virtual Assistant” to scan your system and attempt to fix any existing problems For the record, we repeatedly tried to install this software; it failed installation every time.

If you need to then talk to a technician, phone support is available, but person-to-person support is going to cost you. Virus removal assistance is $89.95, or you can upgrade to $179.95/year for full technical support. Your options are basically: expensive or more expensive.

As for the “Virtual Assistant,” who knows if it’s any good—we don’t.

Conclusion – Overall Score: 74%

Let’s consider the positive aspects of McAfee first. They’ve included a built-in firewall (as they’ve done for years), which is better than not having one… even if it’s not the best firewall we tested.

Next, McAfee AntiVirus 2016 is very light on its feet and does well against phishing threats. In all our tests, McAfee barely made a blip on the radar even when doing heavy computer tasks like multiple downloads and web-surfing. This is praise-worthy, particularly given the reputation McAfee has had in recent years for bogging down PCs.

But then there’s the dark side of McAfee: their terrible virus and malware protection score, their less-than-stellar technical support, and their downright bad user interface.

All together to us, McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2016 doesn’t make the cut this year.

McAfee AntiVirus is one of the few “basic” antivirus software that includes a built-in firewall. Since this is the case, you’d think McAfee would fare much better than the competition in our tests. It didn’t.

We first infected our test PCs with our standard assortment of malware samples that included spyware, viruses, trojans, and other forms of malware. We then turned McAfee AntiVirus on and ran a scan to see how many samples it could clean up or remove.

McAfee AntiVirus left behind several active malware samples. In one batch alone with 40 of the newest viruses, there were at least three very obvious malware infections constantly popping up on our test PCs, and another four actively running in the background.

As for real-time antivirus protection, which is where some products excel, even if they do poorly at removel, McAfee didn’t do much better. With McAfee fully updated and running on each of our test PCs, we attempted to download and install different batches of known viruses, trojans, and other malware.

McAfee was very slow at scanning them compared with their competitors, which is a concern with us. In the time it takes McAfee to determine if a piece of software is safe or not, some malware could get through and do a lot of damage in the meantime. Regardless, McAfee was able to correctly identify most threats, but over 10% of our malware samples remained alive and active.

The only area where McAfee got most things right was with their antiphishing where they scored 90%. A good score for an otherwise poor virus and malware protection performance.

Firewall Protection: 46%

A firewall is your first line of defense against many types of threats trying to infiltrate your PC. Think of it like a moat around your castle: the only way in and out is through the drawbridge and a guard is checking everyone for hidden threats.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus scored a very poor 46% during our firewall testing. On the plus side, McAfee was able to obscure all but one of the vulnerable ports. But on the other hand, the firewall failed to block even basic downloading and flagging tests.

Resource Usage: 98%

McAfee’s overall system impact was very light. PC boot time was very fast compared to other antivirus software. And, there was virtually no system impact when running a full scan. This is a significant change from McAfee’s performance in recent years. They deserve big praise for this.

The downside, and the reason McAfee doesn’t get an even better score in this department, is because scans take so. long. to. complete. This enables McAfee AntiVirus Plus to run with such a low drain on your PC by scanning files very slowly.

It’s a bit of give and take, but on balance we have to credit to McAfee in this area.

User Interface: 33%
The user interface for McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2016 is the same, dull, unintuitive design they’ve been using for years. Literally.

When most antivirus companies make massive overhauls (or at least minor updates), McAfee still relies on a design that looks and feels like someone made a sketch on paper, then built their interface to look just like that.

Not only does it look amateurish, but more importantly, it’s painfully difficult to use compared to its competitors. Most of the relevant sections are virtually hidden within small links or small scrolling boxes, sometimes boxes within boxes. At its worst, a smattering of links make it all but impossible to find the right settings you need.

While we may sound overly harsh for something that may seem insignificant (the design), it’s the part of the antivirus software you’re using. And if it represents poor craftsmanship, then that says a lot about the company behind it.

Technical Support: 71%

The technical support for McAfee is usable for the majority of questions you may have. They provide very good video tutorials, FAQ pages, chat, email, and forums for the most common issues.

If you need further help, McAfee first requires you to install their “Virtual Assistant” to scan your system and attempt to fix any existing problems For the record, we repeatedly tried to install this software; it failed installation every time.

If you need to then talk to a technician, phone support is available, but person-to-person support is going to cost you. Virus removal assistance is $89.95, or you can upgrade to $179.95/year for full technical support. Your options are basically: expensive or more expensive.

As for the “Virtual Assistant,” who knows if it’s any good—we don’t.

Conclusion – Overall Score: 74%

Let’s consider the positive aspects of McAfee first. They’ve included a built-in firewall (as they’ve done for years), which is better than not having one… even if it’s not the best firewall we tested.

Next, McAfee AntiVirus 2016 is very light on its feet and does well against phishing threats. In all our tests, McAfee barely made a blip on the radar even when doing heavy computer tasks like multiple downloads and web-surfing. This is praise-worthy, particularly given the reputation McAfee has had in recent years for bogging down PCs.

But then there’s the dark side of McAfee: their terrible virus and malware protection score, their less-than-stellar technical support, and their downright bad user interface.

All together to us, McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2016 doesn’t make the cut this year.